Issues of Post-Game Crossovers: Tales of Symphonia and RWBY
by noctisxsol
Summary: The heroes of Symphonia are here to help save Remnant. They just need to figure out what, and how, and why would be nice too... Spoilers for Tales of Symphonia.
1. The New Old World

**Issues of Post-Game Crossovers: Tales of Symphonia and RWBY**

Chapter 1: Why are we here?

 **Spoilers for Tales of Symphonia Ahead! It's a great game, play it!**

 **I don't own the rights to either Tales of Symphonia or RWBY. I make no money off of this work, and only do this for my own amusement. Legal immunity.**

 **Text Key**

"Speaking" _"Thinking"_ "SHOUTING" 'Summons' [Sound Effects]

With that, We Begin

'Once upon a time, there were two gods. These gods were brothers and every day the older would go down to a particular planet and bless it with life. The younger brother would then follow, and destroy whatever the older had made. Before long, the older brother grew wise to his brother's schemes and made helpers to protect the life he made.

'He created the graceful and mystical elves, along with the hardy and skilled dwarves. Working together, they wounded the younger brother with a sacred fire made from the light of their souls.

'Enraged, the younger god created his own race to destroy his brother's work, and named them demons, and gave them the ability to create monsters to serve them.

'Grieved by the deaths of his children, the elder brother pleaded with the younger to stop their endless rivalry. The two gods worked together to create one last race; humans. With the power to both create and destroy, they were to left alone to decide their own fate.

'The two gods agreed to create separate homes for their creations, and so the elder created Derris-Kharlan and the younger created Niflheim. But the younger brother did not abide by this agreement. He left behind one demon, his most powerful. The humans gathered together to kill the demon, but it was too crafty. It fled, leaving behind its body.

'Without a body, the spirit wandered throughout the land, leaving ravenous monsters from parts of its power. For thousands of years it ravaged the land until people forgot about the gods and demons, and could only fight the monsters that endlessly streamed from darkness itself. Humanity rose to the challenge, and beat back the monsters, but eventually even the strongest will grow weary and fall when victory cannot be grasped. It is only a matter of time.'

"But perhaps, victory is in those simpler things, which you have long forgotten. Help can yet come from unexpected places, and the power of a sacrifice is no small thing."

-ToS/RWBY-

Four young adults of various ages stood in the middle of a lush forest, surrounded by hordes of bone-plated monsters. The eldest of the group, a ninja girl with black hair, gave a sigh and addressed the group's red-clad leader. "Lloyd, why are we here?"

One wolf-like monster leapt forward to attack, but fell to the ground when a golden halo casually arced through its hind legs. The thrown weapon completed its circuit and returned to the hand of a blonde with white clothes and ethereal butterfly wings. "The Goddess Martel created us to love one another and make the world a better place!"

Undaunted by the crippling its wolfish brother, a bear-like monster attempted to tackle the dark-haired girl. She stood her ground, and when it came close enough, she pummeled it with paper talismans. The bear looked vaguely insulted for a moment, before the tags exploded and destroyed its head. "I'm not talking about why we're alive in general, Colette. I'm asking why we're out here in this forest on an entirely different planet"

Losing all hesitation, the monsters all charged forward in an unorganized mass. Then a sound caught their attention. A silver haired boy with pointed ears was chanting. "Infinite Power, Grant me thy strength. **Meteor Storm!** " A barrage of magic meteors fell from the sky and decimated the charging monsters. "You're the one who volunteered first when Lloyd asked if anyone would go down with him for reconnaissance! I don't understand what's so complicated."

Sheena nimbly leapt over a charging boar monster and assaulted it with her talismans. "I just want to be sure that we're all on the same page here, Genis. I thought we were going down to the city to find a way a way to blend in and learn about the situation of this world that Kratos found. That doesn't seem to be what we're doing."

The leader in red wove through the remaining monsters, rapidly removing heads and limbs with his twin swords. "Dad said that the world had mana, but that he also detected the presence of demons. We're establishing the threat level of the area. Plus, we need to scout the surrounding area to be able to explain how we got here. I don't think that telling whoever we meet that we arrived by space bending sword will lead to much trust." He casually sliced the wing off an attacking bird monster. "So we need to be able to believably play of the county bumpkins, as Zelos would say."

Genis struck one of the wolf monster on the head with the mace-like ball of his weaponized kendama, caving in its skull. "Lloyd, did you just repeat what Kratos told you?"

Lloyd paused, letting a scorpion's stinger embed itself in the ground right in front of him. "No… I didn't use the exact same words, No." he split the scorpion in half before finish his response. "And I came up with the country bumpkin thing all on my own!"

A loud trumpet interrupted their conversation. An elephantine monster lumbered into the conflict. Colette used her wings to fly up to the face of the monster before turning back to the rest of the party. "Wow! It's so big!"

Genis and Sheena sighed in exasperation. Lloyd shouted a warning.

The blonde angel turned around and reeled in shock at the sight of its trunk raised to strike.

" **Rising Falcon!** " Lloyd flew into the air and struck the base of the trunk. The appendage was severed and dissolved in a shower of petals. "Genis, target its front right leg with Earth spells, announce when you're ready. Sheena, boost us. Colette, focus on the eyes. I'll wound its other legs to keep Genis' target in place. This is our first real threat, let's go!"

-Five Hours Later, Vale Weapon Shop-

The four young adults stood awkwardly in a line as a balding middle aged man looked over the weapons they recovered from the corpses of the monsters they killed. None of them had any idea what any of the weapons were worth, what the money was worth, what even passed for money, or even if taking abandoned weapons was frowned upon.

After a long period of silence, the man looked up. "I assume you folks ain't from around here, and I don't care to know where you're from or where you got these. The kingdoms have got a constant demand for weapon parts like these, and most no one asks where they're from. So, I'll take the parts, but I ain't touching the dust so long as all these robberies on stores and transports keep going on. I emptied my shop of all that stuff and I'm not having you making me a target again." He gave a glare before lighting up in greed and rubbing his hands together. "So then, the deal. I'll remove the dust containers and give them to you, no charge. For the parts…" he eyed the heap of assorted weapons running his tongue over his lips. "gunna need to strip 'em, price 'em, wait for the discerning customer who wants exactly that piece…. I'll give ya, let's say seven thousand total and two thousand to have never seen you four. Five thousand, and you cover your buts; that'll get ya set in vale for a month and you keep the dust. How's about it?"

The four foreigners stood at a complete loss. Lloyd came to a decision and put a hand down on the pile of weapons. "I'll take them apart myself. If people here don't buy complete weapons then I'll sell the materials."

The man gained a sly smirk. "Alright then. You take apart the weapons and I'll make up the difference in information. Anything you need to know, right at your fingertips." He slid a glass looking tablet in front of them. "That's a scroll, the latest technology that connects you to everything humanity has ever made." _"Latest model too, so those parts had better be good. You're just lucky I thought you'd notice the wear on my old one, otherwise you'd be getting it used."_

"Alright, Koton. Seven thousand and the scroll for the parts and any information on us is free game. That sounds fair."

-Vale—

"We got scammed! Those parts sell for ten times that, and you could get the scroll for under a hundred!"

"Let it go Lloyd. We still got what we needed."

"No, don't let it go! Who knows how many other needy people that guy has scammed! Lloyd, let's go back and teach him a lesson!"

"Not you too, Sheena! Colette, do something to distract them!"

Said blonde didn't hear the request, as her attention was held by a small grey dog. "Rocco! He looks so cuddly!"

Lloyd and Sheena stopped before letting go of their anger for later. They already paid for a hotel and the scroll told them that there was a nearby store willing was to buy dust and was open for another hour. They could spend a couple of minutes playing with a dog and it wouldn't change anything, right?

But of course it did, that's what always happens in fairy tales.

A group of men in suits and entered the dust shop. One of said men exited the shop via the front window. A girl in a red cloak and combat skit rose to take the criminals down with skill and style. Gunshots rang out and the pavement was scarred. The dog was cuddled. Somehow the last one completely monopolized the blonde's attention as the rest of her team raced to the source of the commotion.

When they arrived they were struck with the image of a single girl standing in the midst of five unconscious men with one man left opposing her. Then they realized that they had no idea what was actually happening.

"Genis, are either of them half-elves?"

"No, but they have more mana than civilians. We can interrogate them once they're finished."

The plan was executed with slight modification when the man let loose with a fire spell and fled. Fortunately, he cornered himself on a rooftop and the party was able to follow.

"Persistent… Red brought some friends. I'm afraid I can't play with you, I have a date with a fiery witch. Now if that bloody witch would just SHOW UP…"

Meanwhile, said red- clad witch was busy struggling with a dog loving blond who was trying to force an apology for scaring a dog.

The distraction gave time for the red cloaked girl and a blonde woman wielding a riding crop to arrive on the roof. The fleeing man gave a relieved sigh as he saw his escape vehicle finally arrive.

The side door opened and a woman in a torn dress threw a blonde onto the roof, followed by multiple gouts of fire. Green spheres surrounded the four interlopers, protecting them. The older blonde and the cloaked girl were forced to dodge, losing the opportunity to attack. The blonde girl called for one of her companions to help the huntress.

Roman crawled into the ship and put out a small fire that had started on his pant leg. "Had a bad break-up? Couldn't keep relationship problems off the job?"

The woman's response was silent, but the heat of the glare convinced the man to head to the cockpit. His hand was almost on the control when the he was thrown to the side. The ship bashed against one of the buildings. He barely managed to gain control of the craft and tried to fly away but a force pulled him back.

Meanwhile, the woman in the body of the dust plane was attempting to fire a clear shot against the blonde huntress, but the ship was tilting wildly and the four children who blocked her opening salvo were standing as guards. As her thoughts raced, she gave a growl. _"Everything is off. First that girl spooked Roman, now a huntress with a team of apprentices are doing far too well at preventing our escape. The little girl knew where the ship was hidden; she was waiting. Do we have a leak? Heads are going to roll once we get back. I can't believe I was forced to go this far."_ The design on her dress began to glow and flames sprouted across the rooftop.

The heroes scattered. The blonde woman dodged, but noticed that the scythe girl was about to dodge into a trap. She caught the girl by the hood and dragged her to safety. _"They seem to be handling themselves well, but they're out of their league. Whoever this woman is has training and isn't afraid to kill. I have to let Roman go to save the children."_

Without any opposing force the bullhead flew away, leaking a thin trail of smoke. The blonde woman watched the ship leave and gave an internal sigh. She turned to the five young adults with a teacher's glare and speech ready.

But there was only the cloaked teen still on the roof. The other four were already pursuing the criminals' ship with personal flying craft that one of them must have summoned. She took note of their appearances and resolved that she would ensure proper punishment was meted out later.

The cloaked teen had no idea of the ideas in the huntress's head, and was busy staring at her new idol. "Can I have your autograph?"

-Vale Interrogation Room—

"What you did was incredibly dangerous! You and your friends fought opponents of unknown strength, pursued an unknown criminal, and tried to stand in the middle of a duel of huntresses, and they pursued without assistance! It's utter luck that your blonde friend was still alive. I realize that the pressure to fit in can be a motivation to do many foolish things, but I will not allow your group to walk away thinking that you are invincible heroes! Now tell me about your friends and I'll lighten your punishment."

"Ummm, I never met them before. I thought they were with you. They were all, 'whoosh!' and 'pow!' And they made those shields, and there's no way those mimi dust planes aren't special hunter tools!"

The stern woman pushed up her glasses. "No, they were not 'with me', nor does that excuse you from punishment. You mean to tell me that you thought you could take down a hunter-trained wanted criminal by yourself? You put yourself and others in grave danger."

"…They started it."

A strike landed across the table from the woman's riding crop. The two held eye contact for a second before the woman gave a sigh. "Unfortunately, your punishment is not up to me. There's someone here to speak with you."

A gray-haired man walked in bearing a plate of cookies and a coffee cup. The baked treats were placed in front of her. "Ruby Rose. You have silver eyes." The man took a seat and motioned for her to eat. "Why don't you tell me where you learned how to fight."

-Vale Hotel, Hour Later—

The four young adults walked into the hotel room and threw themselves onto the beds. Lloyd Lifted up his arm and let it fall. "I'm sorry. We couldn't catch them because I wasn't paying attention."

Sheena immediately leapt to his defense. "Lloyd, There's no way we could have predicted that an arrow would come through the wall of the ship, much less that it would be poisoned. Besides, I'd much rather have you alive than criminals any day."

"Thanks Sheena. I-"

"You know, it probably is for the best that we didn't catch them. We'd probably have to give information we don't know yet and gather more attention than we want. Rushing into that situation probably wasn't your smartest idea Lloyd."

"Shut up Genis! We can't just ignore people suffering right in front of us; right Colette?"

When she heard her name the blonde perked up. "I'm just sad that I can't give that lady her tablet back, it fell out when we were wrestling in the ship. I bet she's wondering where she lost it. She'll probably be relieved to know that we have it."

-Criminal's Airship—

The woman moved to pull out her scroll, but found nothing. He anger flared, but she quickly brought it under control. _"It must have been that blonde child. She could easily withstand my weak attacks and knew I couldn't use a lethal level of power without risking damaging the bullhead, so she put on the act of being an airhead to get me to drop my guard and steal my scroll before allowing herself to be ejected. Clever bitch. That meeting was no accident, someone turned traitor. I'll need to find and eliminate the leak, and remake my plans. I have a lock, but it will only buy time. That scroll only contained contacts, but I'll need to silence them before they can be used to trace me. The queen will need to know of this."_

-Vale Hotel—

"Colette, I don't think she'd accept it back from you. She did try to kill you, she 'd probably think you were trying to kill her."

"Oh. But Sheena tried to kill me before, and now we're friends; I'm sure we'll become friends soon!"

"Sheena's special, Colette. Most people aren't as nice as she is. I just don't want you to get hurt again."

"He he, Sorry."

A knock interrupted the moment and the gray-haired man walked in without waiting for an answer. "You know, for four individuals who should stick out so much, you are a rather difficult group to find. I was fortunate that Miss Rose caught your name amidst the confusion, Lloyd, Otherwise I wouldn't have been able to find this reservation in your name." The four teens readied their weapons. The man took a sip from his mug. "Do you know who I am?"

Lloyd closed his hand around the pommel of his swords. "You know far more than you're telling, just like Kratos. What's your scheme?" The words carried perhaps a bit too much venom after the betrayals he and his team had suffered in the name of a plan.

The man merely gave a small smile and took another drink. "I am Ozpin, the headmaster of Beacon. We are a school dedicated to training those who fight the monsters of Grimm. You showed promise, and I would hate to see it rot in prison for illegally infiltrating the kingdom or have you be claimed by Atlas for interrogation. I would like to offer you protection as students of my academy."

Genis sat up at the offer but said nothing. Lloyd looked around the room, lost in memory. "We've been used as pawns before. Then a friend opened our eyes. You hunted us down specifically, what do you really want?"

Ozpin took another drink from his mug and pulled out a scroll. A surveillance feed of their fight against the monsters was showing. "The grimm have existed as far back as human history records. They have no souls and their only drive is to destroy humanity. They are attracted and empowered by negative emotion, yet I see the four of you standing fearless and calm in the middle of a swarm. The grimm have been an impossible question, but I have the feeling that you are connected to the answer." He walked to the end of the room and looked out the window. "I will not and cannot force you to attend Beacon. But know if that if you do choose to attend you and whatever goals you have here will be protected. Anyone from your home is welcomed to take refuge at Beacon while you learn there." He turned back to the door and placed four envelopes on the room's table while leaving. "If you do decide to attend, fill out the forms and come to campus in two days. I'm sure the rest will sort itself out."

As the door closed, the four young adults looked at each other. Genis spoke first. "I think we should do it. We need to learn more about the world, and what better place to learn than a school."

Colette beamed, "It will be just like Aselia again! We'll make so many friends!"

Sheena stood up and stamped her foot. "We can't trust him! Just because he runs a school doesn't mean he's a good guy. The Imperial academy did terrible things, and that was a school!"

Lloyd gave a sigh seeing where the discussion would end. "I don't trust him either, but it's better to stay close and learn what he's scheming than go blind. Plus, it may be a place we can stay with the rest of the group without raising suspicion."

Sheena gave a light sigh but said nothing as she took one of the envelopes and began the task of filling out her personal information. The other three followed and worked on their own forms in silence… for about a minute. Colette raised her hand like she was in class. "For race, do you think I should put down human or angel?"

 **-Chapter 1 End-**

Omake after the author's notes

Any updates are contingent on interest and my mood. Next update will be issues of Omniscience.

 **This will be a new series that interweaves the worlds of Tales of Symphonia and RWBY. The story will take place largely on Remnant. Since Rooster Teeth went out of their way to make their hunters rather videogame-y, I'll do my best to make the game elements fit into the RWBY lore. In line with that, the Symphonia characters will continue to rely on their exspheres, and not unlock their aura. Exspheres will give a boost to specific attributes and defense far beyond what aura does, but lacks its versatility. The Symphonia cast will not get semblances, or be able to use dust. They will be stronger than almost anyone they meet, but only in their own specialties. Victory is not assured for them. They'll outclass almost everyone still in beacon because of their experience, but they're meant to fight as a team. Individual sparring going to be fun to think through, though.**

 **The deeper comparison going on is the sheer method of problem solving, and how information is used.**

-Omake, If They Didn't Pet the Dog—

Roman Torchwick strode into the dust shop with his crew of hired thugs behind him. The moment the door opened, his eyes were assaulted by a boy in a painfully red suit. He would have continued with the theft anyway, but the teen bore two sheaths, and Junior would charge him extra for any injuries to the hired help.

So he instead bit back on the violence and instead settled for mockery as caught the boy's attention. "Haven't you ever heard what they say about people in red shirts?"

The youth turned to face him with a retort, but stopped as he saw the hair.

In the poorly lit shop, a terrible mistake was made. The orange hair seemed red, and the face was mistaken for a different flamboyant personality. "Zelos? What happened to you? They cut your hair, made you put on extra make-up… Was it a girl? Is this punishment?"

The confused boy was shaking him by this point, and Roman was off balance from the surprise. It was all he could do to let out an irritated denial. He had to get things under control again. The goons were starting to snicker, and he couldn't work with a damaged reputation. "Watch the hands! This suit is custom made!"

By this point the commotion attracted other attention. A pre-teen with silver hair gave the criminal a quick look before shaking his head. "Custom suit? He isn't too far gone if he still has his vanity. Someone in this world likely put him under an illusion."

The swordsman nodded. "I'll try to make him remember himself, you and the rest of the party try to find the spellcaster. Be sure to stick together."

The brat nodded before holding out a wallet stuffed with lien. "Take this, Colette said that some Orange haired Narcissist in a white suit dropped it. You'll probably need all the money you can get."

Roman searched through his pockets and felt his world slowly begin to unravel. This was really happening. Everything he knew about the world came apart at the seams as he was overpowered by a kid and marched out of the shop accompanied by the laughter of the men who were supposed to help him rob said store.

One the laughter died down and Roman was out of sight the hired goons looked at each other, only just realizing that their employer had been kidnapped right in front of them. "So, uhhh, what are we supposed to do now?"

"The guy paid in advance. I'm just gunna' consider this the easiest day of work I've ever had."

"Sounds good. First round's on me! Caveat entor, Sucker!"

Meanwhile, a girl in the back of the shop was completely oblivious to what she had just missed out on stopping.


	2. Entering Beacon

**Issues of Post-Game Crossovers: Tales of Symphonia and RWBY**

Chapter 2; Teams

 **Spoilers for Tales of Symphonia Ahead! It's a great game, play it!**

 **I don't own the rights to either Tales of Symphonia or RWBY. I make no money off of this work, and only do this for my own amusement. Legal immunity.**

 **Also, Crack warning.**

 **Text Key**

"Speaking" _"Thinking"_ "SHOUTING" 'Summons' [Sound Effects]

With that, We Begin

"Who are those people? They're dressed up really weird."

"That guy's in handcuffs!"

"Are those teachers?"

"Wonder what kind of weapons they have…"

"That guy is soooooo hoooot!"

Lloyd glared at Zelos as the group of nine tried to blend in with the tide entering Beacon. "We really stand out. I thought you said that these outfits would be close to what they wear here."

The red-haired playboy waved off the concern. "It's fiine. The girls love a guy that dresses up. You should try it more often; I'm sure that at least one of my hunnies has a little sister who'd show you the benefits."

"Perverted idiot!" Sheena flashed to the front of the group and smacked the Tetheallan Chosen. "Don't try to bring Lloyd into your schemes."

"Ow! Why must you torture me, my sweet hunny?"

Lloyd half-heartedly tried to save his friend from becoming a murderer. "Sheena, he still needs to be able to fight…"

Sheena blushed and released the Chosen, who quickly threw his arm around the team leader. Lloyd was not impressed.

The moment was cut off by an explosion. Lloyd ripped himself free and dashed to the source of the commotion. He was greeted by the sight of Colette lying on the ground in the middle of a crater next to a girl in red. The young man shook his head in exasperation. "You never change, do you Colette?" He reached down and pulled up his fiend.

"I'm sorry, Lloyd."

The swordsman sighed and gave up trying to make her kick the habit. "Come on, let's get Raine to patch you up."

"He he. Okay."

Meanwhile, the red hooded reaper stared at the friends longingly. A hand reached down to help her up. "You look like you could use a friend."

Their conversation pulled Lloyd back to the situation at hand. "I apologize, Colette is a major klutz. Are you alright? Professor Raine can heal you if you're hurt."

The younger girl shook her head nervously. "No." There was an awkward moment of silence. "I'm Ruby, Nice to meet you! This is crescent Rose, what's yours?" She expanded her weapon and slammed it into the ground. The small group was confused at the strange introduction, but the pair of friends from Symphonia recovered quickly.

"I'm Colette! Let's be friends!" Neither of the two girls seemed to find anything weird with the other's introduction.

Lloyd just gave a small smile and shook his head in amused exasperation. "I'm Lloyd Irving… Aurion. I use twin swords and Colette uses chakrams." The rest of the Symphonia group arrived about this time, so Lloyd took the opportunity to introduce the rest of them. "This is my dad Kratos, my friends Sheena, Presea, and Genis, Raine is Genis's older sister, Regal is the one in handcuffs-"

"And I am the Zelos Wilder; at you service, my silver-eyed princess." Raine was the one to administer the perverted chosen's punishment that time.

Meanwhile, the friendly blonde was slowly edging away, frightened by the crowd of confidant fighters. He was about to fully turn tail when a flash of rose petals filled his view and Ruby was suddenly in front of him. "And aren't you the one who threw up on the ship?"

Jaune groaned, but mustered up his confidence for a good first impression. "Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it."

Out of the group of ten, one reaction stood out. Zelos laughed out loud and threw an arm around the blonde. "This kid understands! Jaune, I hereby take you under my wing as my apprentice." He leaned close and continued in a whisper. "Come and talk to me if you want to learn how to stop being a faker…"

As the group of new friends laughed and the two leaders in red excitedly compared their weapons, only one person was aware that destiny had began to be turned aside.

-Evening, Ballroom-

It was finally night after a day full of conflict and explosions. Most of the students were asleep. However, a few were awake. Lloyd and Zelos were sitting up around the dim light of a lamp. A certain blonde fraud was still awake as well, tossing and turning while visions of everything that could go wrong ran through his head. Jaune pulled himself out of his sleeping bag and joined the small circle around the light. The two warriors moved to let him join and waited for him to speak.

"What do you think initiation will be like? It'll probably just be a speech and then we'll be shown around campus, right?"

Lloyd made eye contact with Zelos, who gave a small shake of his head. The young man took a moment to think. "Well, Colette's initiation as chosen involved fighting monsters and getting an artifact, so I think it might be something like that."

Jaune whimpered. "It'll be easy though, right? It's just the initiation after all."

"Honestly? We would have died if Kratos hadn't stepped in, but that was more from the Renegades than the trial. It opened my eyes to how much stronger I needed to be if I really wanted to protect Colette."

Eager to find any distraction, Jaune leapt at the opportunity to shift the conversation. "Heh, heh, right, no big deal… um, so, what is Colette to you?"

There was an unusual amount of mirth in Zelos' eyes as the red-head leaned forward in expectation. "Yeah, how do you feel about your precious little angel? What's behind all those hugs you share?"

Lloyd looked at the two of them in confusion. "She's my friend. I'd do anything for her. We've been together for a long time, and we're going to be together to death. I don't get what you're looking for."

"And Sheena? What's with those times we found her sleeping cuddled next to you? Or that time she asked you to wash her back?"

"We haven't been friends as long as Colette and me, but I want to stay with her and support her. And she has nightmares, so she asks me to stay close and wake her. The bath thing isn't anything special, I do that for Colette all the time."

"Raine? What about those special lessons?"

"She's the one helping me to keep a level head and I appreciate her teaching me how to do things orderly. I just need more help, and the Professor won't let me stay behind everyone else."

"Presea? How're you helping her make up for lost time?"

"She needs someone to support her, and I'd be a terrible friend if I wasn't there for her. We go out and enjoy some local food or desert so she doesn't miss anything ever again."

"Bud, one last question. What's the densest material in the universe? Because I think you might just have it beat."

Zelos chuckled at his friend's confused look and Jaune didn't feel quite as heavy as before. The Tetheallan Chosen turned his attention to the interloper. "You Gunna talk now?"

Jaune sighed. "I don't feel like I should be here. I'm not sure that I'm ready." He stopped, but Zelos motioned for him to continue. He mustered up his courage for his confession. "I forged my transcripts to get in here."

Lloyd gave a blank stare. "What does that matter? We didn't have transcripts; you just have to show that you deserve to be here. C'mon I can teach you a few extra tricks if you want."

Jaune opened his mouth to object, but the red haired chosen spoke first. "Whoa, whoa, whoa. You barely even know the guy, and would you even have anything to teach him? No one else uses two swords, remember?" Lloyd gave the magic swordsman a look, and Zelos leaned over. "C'mon bud, how 'bout you let me train him? Plus, how can I let someone go around wearing that, without correcting them?"

"Hey! What's wrong with my pajamas? My sisters made them for me!"

The perverted chosen perked up. "Sisters? That makes it even better! What do they look like? Do they visit? What are their sizes?"

Jaune moved back as Zelos drew closer with every question. "They don't know I'm here! I ran away to become a huntsman when Dad finally told me that I was adopted and really an Arc." Seeing the blank looks on their faces the blonde laughed nervously. "Ever since my sisters learned that I wasn't their real brother, things have been weird. My leaving was the best thing for them… Now they're free…"

Zelos shook his head in exasperation, but his eyes had softened somewhat. "If you call your sisters and get them to visit, I'll train you. At least in how to understand girls; it is my specialty."

Lloyd was not amused, but at least Jaune was excited.

-Later-

Jaune was no longer excited. He expected the training to show him what he needed to know. Instead it seemed to be showing off how much he didn't know. Zelos was dancing circles around him, and his armor was nowhere near as effective as he thought it would be. He was on one knee, panting after he exhausted himself wildly attacking the older swordsman.

"Man, I rule! That was so easy!" Jaune grimaced and pushed himself to his feet. "Oh, so you want more of the great Zelos?"

The blonde gathered his strength and gave a heavy swing. Zelos casually dodged it and responded by sending a shockwave of force along the ground. Jaune stumbled out of the way, and barely kept his feet.

"You're dedicated, aren't you? Most guys would have fallen over, and the ladies would have fallen for me." The red-head had hearts in his eyes.

Jaune just grunted. "I don't have a choice. This is the only thing left for- Ow!." A flying bag struck him in the face and knocked him over. Zelos gestured and Jaune opened it to find a small crystal mounted in a strange metal.

"Nuh-uh. I'm gunna' let you get broody and scare the hunnies away. Attach that to your skin someplace hidden. I'm not letting you get like me, there's only one Zelos Wilder." Jaune looked at the older teen in wonder for a moment before scrambling to place the gift on his left trapezius. "Now then, tonight I'll teach you a few tricks for fighting, and in exchange you'll call your sisters tomorrow and introduce me."

Jaune's eye gained a mysterious twitch. Every time he thought he was getting ahead...

-Jaune learned Guardian-

-Jaune learned Demon Fang-

"Alright, Beacon has some babes! Watch and learn, Kid, the great Zelos is going to show you the art of picking up chicks!"

"uggh. So sleepy…" The pair had spent the better part of the night training before finally returning to the ballroom sometime early in the morning. Zelos was unaffected by the sleepless night, but Jaune would best be described as still asleep. The blonde was in no shape to watch his teacher, much less learn anything as he plodded around the red-head and the pale beauty that his mentor was flirting with.

"I tried to visit your home, but it turns out you're too beautiful to just stay have heaven. Won't you be mine, my little snow angel?"

The white haired girl blushed and stuttered before shyly handing the Chosen one of her cases of dust with her scroll number scratched into it.

Jaune surveyed it with distant amusement as he tried and failed to open the locker. " _Apparently she has a thing for vapid pretty-boys. Too bad, I thought I might have had a shot."_

The older boy turned to the other girl with a flirtatious smile. "And what should I do with you, my Goddess of Victory?"

Jaune idly noted that her face puckered before returning to a polite smile. _"At least she's weirded out by having a guy try to pick her up right after doing the same to another girl right in front of her."_ "Why won't you open? I knew I shouldn't have locked up my stuff when I'd need it so soon. Now I'm stuck listening to him flirt with some random pretty girls right next to me. I could flirt like that, if I felt like it… all you need is confidence…" Jaune continued speaking, completely unaware that his thoughts had left his head in the midst of still failing to open his locker.

After a second of hesitation, the crimson haired girl went over to the blonde with hope blooming in her eyes. "Hi, I'm Pyrrha, Pyrrha Nikos. Do you want to be friends?"

Jaune automatically replied with his a nod and his own name. Unfortunately for him, he was still basically asleep. He didn't even realize know that the girl was talking to him.

With her flames of hope finally ignited, she decided if the blonde was her friend then she should obviously help him. A subtle use of her semblance set the door of the locker free to smack the Arc in the face.

Jaune fell to the ground. Pyrrha gasped and began to nurse the bump on his head. The Snow Angel gave a dismissive tsk and walked away. Zelos just laughed.

A quick slap from Professor Sage changed the chosen's mood. "I wasn't expecting anything and yet you still manage to disappoint me. Come, the students need to prepare for initiation and you will be observing with the adults."

"That blonde babe from before's going to be there, right? Hell yeah I'm going there!" [SLAP!] "Ow! HEY! I said I was going, you don't have to pull my ear!"

As he was dragged away, he heard the redhead reciting some kind of poetry over the kid while saying something about aura. Zelos gave a small smile. The Kid got a good start.

-Launch Area-

The crowd of students slowly settled down as they took their places on the pads laid out facing the cliff. The Headmaster had given his instructions and had already stepped back to join the circle of "adults" who would be supervising. Raine had negotiated with Ozpin and came to a fair agreement. So long as a team four of them passed initiation, then the entire group would be free to make Beacon their home and base. The use of the facilities would be theirs, but anything further would require doing certain favors for the headmaster. This was already one of them; in exchange for information about the thief those who weren't participating in initiation would help oversee the exam.

As for the team participating, Lloyd had immediately volunteered himself, Colette, and Genis, with Sheena immediate raising her voice to claim the last spot. So now the four stood at the beginning of a long line, facing a forest full of monsters and honestly feeling kind of bored. This wasn't anything they haven't faced before, and the only thing that might give any of them difficultly would be finding the rest of the group to form a team.

Unfortunately they hadn't been paying attention to how they would enter the forest.

The first pad activated and Sheena went flying with a started cry of "Not again!"

Lloyd, the moment he saw Sheena go flying, raced to the cliff and lept off, crying her name. A moment later, wings of light sprouted from his back and he was racing through the air to catch his friend.

Colette followed after Lloyd on her own wings, crying his name.

Genis was left alone back on the launch pad as it started to soak in just what kind of a situation he was in. "Uh… Guys…?" The machine didn't care about his predicament and sent the young half-elf flying.

-With the Adults-

Raine shook her head as she watched the antics of her students. "Lloyd, you should know better than to have shown that…" Suddenly she gripped the scroll with both hands so tightly that it almost broke. " Genis! Genis, what are you doing?! Get off there! You know how easy it is for you to trip!"

Kratos put a calming hand on her shoulder. "Lloyd will take care of him, isn't that why you agreed to have him join the trail?"

Raine nodded and was about to respond when Zelos' voice broke into their thoughts. "Hey Teach, what happens if they don't touch the ground? You said partners were the first ones you made eye contact with after landing, right?"

Ozpin calmly took a sip from his mug. "That is indeed what I said… … … … … … …"

"You, uh, gunna elaborate on that?"

The headmaster took another sip from his mug as Glynda tried to decide which of the two of them deserved a glare more. She decided on both of them.

-Jaune-

What modicum of confidence the Arc had gathered from his advancements last night quickly flew away with the rushing wind. His mind raced to find a way to survive, but his time was cut short when a tree rudely decided to block his path. On instinct he activated the force field that Zelos had taught him and slammed through the tree like a cannonball. He then promptly slammed into the next tree. And to really rub it in, a spear flew past his ear and pinned his hoodie to the tree.

Sure it was humiliating, but at least from this angle he could see the end of silver-haired child's own pinwheeling flight on the unsuspecting back of Lloyd. Unfortunately for Genis, the leader's hands were already full carrying Sheena. This resulted in an awkward juggling act until Colette caught Sheena and left Lloyd and Genis free to settle into a flying piggyback ride.

" _Well, they figured it out, now I just have figure out my own situation_." The blonde gave an experimental tug on the spear keeping him pinned to the tree. Nothing. _"Should I just slip out of my hoodie? No, that would take my armor too. Ugh, I'm stuck and my hoodie's going to have a hole no matter what I do. darn this stupid tree. Wait, the tree! I can't remove the spear, but what if I can remove the tree? Just pull out my sword and…"_ he sent a wave of power through his sword, just like Zelos had taught him. He winced as it scraped over his back before finishing its trek about a foot above where the spear had embedded itself.

Jaune had half of moment of pride before gravity took over and he dropped like a sack of potatoes.

"An interesting array of skills, it's a shame they didn't come in a neater package." The Knight looked up to see the girl in white that Zelos had flirted with earlier. She really was beautiful, he could have seen himself endlessly pining for her in another universe where he hadn't met his teacher.

Unfortunately, this was not that universe and he was feeling a just grumpy enough for a little snark as he pushed himself to tower over her. "Sorry, _Snow Angel_. Should I dye my hair?"

The white themed girl gave a haughty huff. "The name is Schnee, Weiss Schnee, Heiress of the Schnee Dust Company. And your name, Scraggly?"

"Jaune Arc."

Weiss hummed for a moment then the snapping of a twig grabbed both of their attention. "Weeeeiiiss! Come on, we made eye contact! We're friends now, right? We can paint our toenails and talk about cute boys like- Oh, hey Jaune."

Weiss refused to turn around. "I already told you, Ruby, we didn't really make eye contact. And I just did with Jaune, so he is my partner."

Ruby's eyes began to shine with tears. "But Weiss…"

Then Pyrrha burst into the clearing, interrupting what Ruby was about to say. "Jaune! I'm here to help!"

[SCREECH!]

Jaune tuned out the battle cry of the giant Nevermore, and racked his brain trying to recall every meeting the girl. Then his mind quickly caught up to his thoughts. "Oh, you were the beauty that shot down the playboy. Thanks for helping me get my locker open and everything. And whatever you did to help with my headache really helped; how did that poem go? For it is in passing…?"

["Ray Thrust"]

["Ahh! Colette, don't drop me!"]

["Sorry, I- Whoops"]

["Sylph, Help!"]

The Mistrali girl was blushing as red as her hair. "Um… Sorry…"

The touching moment was interrupted - again- by another girl crashing her way into the clearing. The new blonde took a quick look, locked in on the Mistrali champion and strolled up to her. "Hey, Invincible Girl, you have a partner yet?"

Pyrrha looked at Jaune, who looked at Weiss, who was now regretting settling for the Arc. "No, she doesn't."

["Genis, Can you slow that thing down?"]

["It's hard to cast while you're moving, Lloyd!"]

Yang's face lit up in a huge smile. "Well you do now! But I gotta ask, have you seen a girl in a red hood around here?"

Ruby poked her head out from behind Jaune. "I'm right here Yang! You didn't even look! And Now I don't have a partner because Weiss deserted me and stole Jaune and now you won't be my partner and I'm all alone and-"

["Gravity Well!"]

[CRASH!]

The impact from the giant Nevermore shook the ground and caused a girl dressed in black to flee out into the clearing. Ruby seized the opportunity and took off like a bullet.

"Ruby! Watch out for that root!" Yang noticed the tripping hazard just a moment too late.

[Crash!]

Weiss gave a dismissive shrug. "Well, now she has a partner at least."

-Blake-

[Staaaaaaare]

The faunus was taken off guard by both the speed at which the girl moved, and her strange insistence on maintaining eye contact. It wasn't like she was going to desert the younger huntress. That would just be cruel. I mean, who would even try something like that toward someone who was supposed to be your closest ally for the next four years?

[Staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaare]

But really, why couldn't she have gotten that swordsman in red as her partner? Or that blonde girl that was with him? Either of them definitely would have been able to understand her. Those wings certainly didn't belong on a human, and the chances of it just being a semblance when both of them had it was slim to none. But now she was stuck with a partner that was best friends with the Schnee's partner. How could it all have gone so wrong?

[staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaare]

Was that girl going to keep doing this until initiation was over? Seriously!

-Observers-

"How can my little Snow Angel be so cold! She can't just leave Little Red hanging like that to hook up with the Kid. We need to put them in the records how they actually met; Snow Angel with Little Red, the Kid with the Goddess of Victory, and Kitten with the Blonde Babe."

Ozpin took a sip as if considering. "Put down Schnee with Arc, the rest as they met. It's simpler this way."

Glynda 's head snapped to glare solely at the headmaster. "Ozpin, with all due respect, you spent weeks calculating that the partners that Mr. Wilder suggested were among the best possible options. Surely it would be wiser to make sure they have partners who will work well with them for the next four years."

Ozpin took another sip. "… We must accept that the dice have fallen unfavorably today. It's simpler this way."

Glynda finally snapped. "Damn it Ozpin! Every year it's the same thing with you! You spend the entire summer analyzing applicants, planning ways for them to grow, all to find the best partner for them. Halfway through the summer you go insane, and I find you giggling next to a board and muttering something about naval vessels and their cannons. Then, when the day of initiation comes, you don't do anything! If you're going to spend the summer making my only chance to relax a living hell, then at least get some use of it for the Brothers' sake!" Rain put a hand on the blonde's shoulder as her stern demeanor began to break down and the riding crop fell from her hands. "I haven't even been able to make lesson plans for the last five years, it's gotten so bad! And he's getting more delusional every year! He's starting on insisting that I call students by strange names that don't make any sense! What even is an Arkos? What do bumblebees have to do with anything? There shouldn't need to be a spreadsheet to memorize for this!"

Professor sage pulled the other teacher into a hug as the blonde broke down into tears.

Regal gave a cough to get everyone's attention. "Lloyd and his team have reached the ruins after defeating an abnormally large bird monster. They still haven't touched the ground. What's the ruling?"

Ozpin took another sip from his bottomless mug, undisturbed by anything happening around him. " _I don't understand what the problem is, there's nothing wrong with this style of teaching. Winging it is a greatly respected skill that predates all known forms of civilization, I merely turned it into an art form. We only average three or four casualties each year doing this method, that's better odds than childbirth… at least it was back in my day, might have to check those stats again once I'm finished reworking the shipping chart. Oh, and team names have to be done somewhere in there as well. Eh, I can have Glynda do that, once she's done recording all of the partners, assigning dorm rooms, preparing their schedules, keying their scrolls to the proper doors, planting all of the hidden cameras, preparing for shipping plots A through E, writing his speech for the next assembly… huh, he has been giving her a lot of responsibilities. Oh, well, she can handle it. She'll be fine by the afternoon so long as she gets her tea..."_

-Climbing up the cliffs of Beacon-

As the group of eight newly-minted friends climbed up the steep stairs that would take them back to school, Ruby voiced the thoughts of roughly half the party. "Man, that was boring." A few murmurs of assent went up. "I mean, sure, we got to fight a few beowulves and those ursa along with the nevermores, but there was nothing big! Nothing to really make us say 'Wow we killed that! We're going to be bestest battle buddies!' If only Weiss would have let us go-"

Weiss shouted at the young reaper from the back of the line. "If you are about to suggest that going into the cave still would have been a good idea, so help me-"

"But caves have treasure! I saw something shiny in there, I know it!"

"The painting obviously indicated that there was an ancient grimm in there! The mission objective was to get the relics and get back. We did NOT need to fight that!"

"We could have taken it." Ruby was almost pouting, judging from her tone of voice.

"You petulant Child! Why-"

[MARVELOUS!]

The sound of the cry echoes throughout the forest. Students everywhere shot up in their seats and locked their eyes forwards. Grimm scattered in primal fear. For their part, the young huntresses and huntsmen on the cliff froze in confusion and fear.

Nora swing around to point her loyal steed Ren toward the source of the cry. "Backwards to battle, Ren! We have a monster to slay!"

The exhausted boy gave a sigh. "I don't think that was a monster, Nora. Grimm can't talk."

Jaune blew out a long sigh. "Let's just go inside and get assigned. We'll deal with whatever that was later."

 **Chapter 2 Done!** Stay tuned for extra wacky Omake action!

Yeah, this story hasn't received much love. I did one chapter, then did a chapter of a different story that was between Tales of the Abyss and Familiar of Zero. That one was awesome and took off, leaving this one in the dust. But that story has settled down, I'm slogging through chapters of my other stories and found this lying in the to-do pile, so I brushed it off and finished the chapter.

 **The Teams**

Lloyd Irving **A** urion, Colette **B** runel, **S** heena Fujibiyahi, Genis **S** age. Team ABSS. Abyss

 **J** aune Arc, Weiss **S** chnee, **Y** ang Xio-Long, Pyrrha **N** ikos. Team JSYN. Jasmine

Ruby Rose, **N** ora Valkyrie, **B** lake Belladonna, **L** ie Ren. Team RNBL. Rainbow

Omake: The Shipping Chart

-Ozpin's Office-

The office was dark. The sun had long since gone down and the only thing left fighting against the blackness was the light from a single scroll. empty containers of coffee grounds littered the floor and desk. Ozpin was laying on the floor, making a chart out of the used coffee grounds.

It was this situation that Glynda entered when she came to get final approval for the list of applicants.

"Headmaster! What are you doing!"

"These new students… They need to be included in the shipping chart. Otherwise they shall disrupt the perfect balance of my OTPs."

Glynda took a glance at the chart. "Headmaster… this is going too far. I understand that you wish for all of your students to -Wait, you included me? And Yourself?"

"And Peter and Bart, didn't want to leave anyone out! My OTP for them is with each other!" He sounded proud, in a twisted, sleep deprived way."

Glynda stopped and took a deep breath. She was a professional. She was the voice of reason. She can combat madness with discipline. "Ozpin, you do know that Peter is happily married, right? They just got another grandchild." Without any response, she began to get desperate. "You were there! He named you Godfather!"

Ozpin finally turned to her with unfocused eyes. "That won't stop anything. True shipping cannot be contained by such petty bonds as age, gender, interests, marriage, children, lack of contact, mutual hatred, one sided hatred, death, murder, or even canon."

Glynda took a deep breath. "Fine, but will you explain to me how any of this can be considered One true Pairing? Because it looks like you just listed every person you knew with- Wait, you have ships for people where their partner is themselves? How would that even work?"

"You see, it would be folly to assume that ours is the only dimension, and if there is more than one, it would be just stupid to put an arbitrary cap on the number so we can assume that there is an infinite number of universes. And with an infinite number of universes, it is guaranteed that everything will happen. Therefore, it is a mathematical necessity that an alternate universe of every person will emerge from a portal and fall in love their alternate self. We need to be prepared for this eventuality."

Glynda felt her hand get magically pulled to massage between her eyes. "And who even are some of these people? Zwei? Shopkeeper? And what were you thinking including Torchwick? And aren't some of these from different schools? How would a relationship like that even work out? Actually, what's with some of the omissions? You only go through two teams worth of students before you get sidetracked! And you didn't even include Peach! She's the only one on the staff who's actually looking for a relationship!"

"Unimportant! Background characters! My shipping is far too great for them. My shipping is not limited by the bonds of space or sanity, this is the power that will defeat all evil and bring peace to Remnant. Soon… Yes, soon all my ships will be canon." Ozpin fell into a fit of maniacal laughter as he rolled on the floor.

Glynda thought better of helping him at the moment. No one would notice if she forged the headmaster's signature again this year.

As the door of the elevator closed, she gave the last bit of help that she could. A wave of power blew through and cleared the floor of the grounds, blowing them out an opened window. " _There. That should either snap him out of it, or at least keep him out of trouble for a while._ "

The repetition of ships and cannons made her think it would be the latter.


	3. Sparring

**Issues of Post-Game Crossovers: Tales of Symphonia and RWBY**

Chapter 3; Sparring

 **Spoilers for Tales of Symphonia Ahead! It's a great game, play it!**

 **I don't own the rights to either Tales of Symphonia or RWBY. I make no money off of this work, and only do this for my own amusement. Legal immunity.**

 **Also, Crack warning.**

 **Text Key**

"Speaking" _"Thinking"_ "SHOUTING" 'Summons' [Sound Effects]

With that, We Begin

All the students milled about and chatted with each other the teams were announced. Glynda was nowhere to be seen, and Ozpin wasn't doing anything to make them sit down and shut up, so the process was taking far longer than normal. The headmaster had spent the last five minutes continually re-reading the names of the next team, trying to get their attention. "Ruby Rose, Blake Belladonna, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren, please come up to the stage. Ruby Rose…"

Finally, a team of second years took pity on the man and got the first years to quiet down. Sadly, their method of gaining attention was to have the team leader fire her min-gun into the ceiling. Effective? Yes, but unfortunately also destructive at a time when the woman that would normally repair such damage was out with an anxiety attack.

But he could worry about that another time. Right now he needed to finish telling the people their teams so he could initiate his plans. "Ruby, Nora, Blake, Lie Ren. From now on, you will be known as RNBL, team Rainbow, team leader is Ruby Rose. Next is Jaune Arc, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xio-Long, and Pyrrha Nikos." The team was barely halfway to the stage when the headmaster got impatient. "You'll be team JSYN, Jasmine, Mr. Arc gets to be leader. Next is Lloyd Irving, Colette Brunel, Genis Sage, and Sheena Fujibiyashi." When the group of four stood on stage, Ozpin launched into a maniacal laugh. "You… You thought you could stump me, didn't you? All your names and not a single vowel. But I have a secret weapon! You!" He pointed at Lloyd, who had less of an idea what was going on than the rest of the audience. "Your real last name! Your father's last name is Aurion, thus your real last name is an A! Therefore, when you four are together, you will be known as team ABSS, Abyss! Take that! Ha ha!"

As the headmaster resumed his laughter, Collette politely raised her hand. "Sir, what about when we change our team?" Ozpin froze mid-laugh. "Like, normally Sheena would be replaced by Presea, or Genis might be replaced by Zelos."

The man stood frozen, overwhelmed by the necessity to create a possible team name for every combination of four people from a nine person group. Finally, the man snapped himself free. "You can't! You need to learn how to work with a specific group that will be your team! You can't go switching around teams at your whim! Where is the bond? Where is the tension? You can't possibly form proper bonds in a group of nine!"

Everyone gave the headmaster strange looks as he finished his rant. Silence filled the auditorium until the main screen switched to a view of Glynda's face. "Ozpin!" Everyone cowered in terror, even though the witch's ire wasn't directed at them. "Control yourself!" She rubbed her forehead to try to ease the omnipresent stress. "I was afraid something like this would happen. He always places far too much emphasis on the wrong things. Team Abyss will be the general term for any team formed from your group. As for the rest of the student body, classes will begin at 9:00 tomorrow. Dismissed."

Team ABSS remained behind as most of the other students filed out to their dorm rooms. Once they were alone, Lloyd let out a heavy sigh. "Are we really going to have to go to class? Didn't we come here to stop a demon?"

Rain looked scandalized. "How could you say that! We have the perfect opportunity to learn about the culture and history of a different world! Think of all the ruins they must have!"

Regal nodded in assent. "One should never pass up an opportunity for learning."

Kratos placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "This is a school for warriors, I'm certain that everything they teach here will be useful for fighting."

-Next Morning-

"The Grimm! Creatures of darkness! Monsters that stalk the night! But I call them… Prey! Why I remember one time where I-"

As the professor continued talking, Lloyd only managed to stay awake by glaring at his father. "You said this would be useful. I would get more out of reading the Monster List."

Genis let out an exasperated sigh. "If he were telling this around a campfire you'd be hanging on his every word…"

Lloyd sent a glare to his friend. "I'm not being forced to learn there. And it's not like anyone else is paying attention." He waved his arm to gesture over the entire classroom, idly noticing the complete absence of team RNBL.

Genis felt the need to correct him. "Lots of people are paying attention. Just look at that blonde and his partner over there." He gestured over at Jaune and Weiss, the later viciously refocusing the Arc's attention whenever it wandered even an inch. Pyrrha was also paying attention, albeit with a strained smile, but the other blonde on the team wasn't even pretending.

"You knew what I meant!" Lloyd threw up his hands in exasperation, unaware that the professor was asking a question.

"Ah, we have a volunteer for the demonstration! Please come down, Mr. Irving!"

Lloyd shrugged and came down, not even bothering to change out of the uniform they made him wear. He treated the uniform like any other costume that he wore; worn over his armor, swords in place on his hips, scarf ends tailing along behind him.

"Now, You will show your ability as a hunter in mortal combat against a grimm, Haha!" The young man made to draw his swords, but the teacher stopped him. "But for one such as yourself, that would be far too little! Therefore, I'll loan you my old friend!"

The man threw an object, and Lloyd snatched it out of the air to see that it was a crude wooden spear. Without waiting for the boy to be ready, the professor broke the lock on the cage. A boar-like creature trotted out, before quickly zeroing in on the student.

Lloyd analyzed the beast as it rolled into a ball and spun at him. The best was low level, smaller than most of the ones he had killed in the forest those few days ago. It was no threat, but he still had to kill it.

That raised the question of how he was going to respond to the grimm's attack. He could a) dodge it, but that would likely be an over-reaction b) block it, likely the wisest and most measured course of action, or c) counter attack, the fastest option.

Despite all of his growth, he was still a teen boy who felt that the class was a waste of time, so of course he decided to go with plan C. Lloyd waited till the monster was about to hit him, then he gripped the spear in one hand and struck.

"SONIC Thrust!"

Now Grimm biology, especially Grimm bone, is a mystery to even the greatest of scientists on remnant. Grimm seem to lack the necessary components for life and movement, such as internal organs or muscles, yet they live, grow, and even eat unaware that what they are doing is impossible. That goes double for Grimm bone. It can be one of the hardest materials known on remnant, but disappears into smoke like the rest of the monster when it dies. To further muddy the waters, the strength of the bone material seems to differ based on the person doing the attack, regardless of the force behind the attack. Only an elf or a magic using human could even begin to understand the material, and none of those were willing to explain the minutia of the matter.

All that was to say that the entire class was warring between surprise and confusion when the spear pierced right through the rolling Boarbatusk. Even the Grimm itself seemed surprised in the moment before its body faded away into wisps of dark mana.

It took only a moment for Professor Port to collect himself and begin clapping. "Good job, my boy! I haven't seen such bravery and grace since I was a boy on my first hunt! Back then I wasn't nearly the man I am now, but I had the pluck to more than make up for it…"

As the teacher launched into another story, Lloyd walked back to his seat. The eyes of the class followed him. The Wandering Swordsman was left wondering if perhaps he stood out, for some reason.

-Combat Class-

"Capturing and containing Grimm is rather expensive, so the core part of your combat training will sparring between your fellow classmates. The battle will continue until either one of the combatants drops into the red of their aura, surrenders, or is knocked outside of the dueling ring. Myself and Professor Aurion will observe and critique your fighting styles. Even if you are not fighting, it will still be of benefit for you to observe your classmates. With that said, the first battle will be between Pyrrha Nikos and-"

"Lloyd." Kratos cut in and motioned for the fighters to come down.

Pyrrha stood up awkwardly, surrounded by the excited whispers of people eager to see the Invincible Girl take down the strange newcomer. Her smile was plastic.

Then she heard Jaune's voice simply wishing her good luck. No expectations, no mention of her supposed invincibility, just an honest wish for good luck from one student to a friend.

It felt good.

" _Why, Why did Weiss have to take his as a partner! She doesn't even like him!"_ a shout from her actual partner made Pyrrha realize that she had stopped moving, so she shot a genuine smile back at the blonde huntsman and started moving again.

By the time she made her way to the ring Lloyd was already waiting with his practice swords out, but the time she had taken thinking had given the girl a motivation she hadn't had in a long time. She readied her weapon in sword mode, and the two warriors took a moment to size each other up. Pyrrha idly noticed that his swords seemed to be made of wood, but dismissed it as a merely external design.

"Begin."

Pyrrha shot forward, eager to show off against the Crimson Swordsman in a duel of blades.

Lloyd, however, wasn't planning to hold back any of his skills. He channeled his energy into his blades and ran them along the ground. "DOUBLE DEMON FANG!" Two waves of focused energy rushed along the ground, carving out a straight line as they raced toward the champion.

Pyrrha dodged the attacks, spinning out of the path of the waves with the grace of a dancer.

Lloyd used the opportunity to advance and engage on his terms. He dashed into range and started his flurry of attacks. The first three strikes were slow in comparison to what was about to come, but they almost made the girl stagger from the force behind them. The hits were so heavy that her aura dropped three percent per hit, despite her shield blocking the blows.

But those were just the opening. "SWORD RAIN!" A barrage of lightning fast attacks fell upon her from the boy's twin blades. She could feel her aura dropping from the blocked attacks, and for the first time in a while she thought that she could lose.

The Invincible Girl threw that thought out of her mind. She would win this. She had to. She wasn't allowed to lose.

She subtly reached out with her semblance to change the course of his weapon as she prepared to counter attack. Only too late did she realize that he was actually using wooden swords.

One of the blades slipped through her opened defenses and she barely managed a partial dodge. The strike glanced off her exposed shoulder, but it was enough. She was already down to seventy-five percent. First blood had gone to the newcomer.

Pyrrha retreated and tried to figure out a strategy. It wasn't something she was particularly good at. Normally she could just overwhelm her opponents with her acrobatic style and straight combat skills. Where those failed her semblance had always given her the edge. But now she was facing a faster ad stronger opponent that wasn't using a metal weapon.

Before she had time to come up with a plan, he was already attacking her again. "HEAVY TIGER BLADE!" One upward strike sent her reeling, frantically using all her strength and semblance to bring her shield back down into a guarding position.

The second strike came from the blind spot caused by her shield and slammed it down past a guarding position and caused it to embed itself halfway into the floor. It would take less that a second to pull it out with her semblance, but that would leave her open while she focused. Instead she turned her attention to her opponent.

Her semblance latched onto the metal buttons studding his clothes and pulled. Unfortunately, manipulating metal in clothes was drastically different than manipulating weapons. It was much more difficult to guide a weapon, and the manipulation could easily be noticed. To use it properly required a great deal of prediction and subtle nudging to gain the most benefit.

It truly was a shame that Pyrrha found herself completely surprised by what the red swordsman did next.

"TEMPEST BEAST!"

Rather than continue fighting her head-on, Lloyd leapt into a front flip and transformed into a spinning wheel cutting through the air. She felt the wooden blades smash into her aura half a dozen times and break her concentration.

The invincible girl stood dazed. She was totally outclassed physically and it seemed like her only chance to win would be to reveal her semblance in an unmistakable way.

She could already see the looks of shock from every student. They couldn't believe that the invincible girl could really lose to some unknown boy from outside the kingdom.

Only Jaune was different. Instead of shock, his face showed concern. He wasn't muttering, he was cheering her on.

But his attack was still only halfway done.

A roaring force slammed into her back. The blow threw her off her feet and sent her skidding along the ground.

For a moment she lay still with her eyes closed. _"So this is what defeat feels like… it's oddly freeing…"_

The crowd was silent, waiting for the announcement of the Invincible girl's first defeat. But it didn't come. Instead of a professor, it was Jaune that broke the silence. "You can do it Pyrrha!"

She opened her eyes. It was amazing how finding a motivation can change a situation. Sure, she was under thirty percent against an untouched opponent, but that didn't matter anymore.

She shifted her sword into rifle mode and fired a few shots at the swordsman. He casually blocked them, but the distraction gave her time to retrieve her shield and throw it.

It was another distraction, but slightly more cunning. She reached out wither her semblance and _pushed_. The shield and the swordsman went flying. She had to suck in a gasp when she saw him casually right himself in mid-air and land gracefully on his feet, but her plan had already succeeded.

"The winner is Pyrrha Nikos by Ring-Out."

The two professors entered the ring, both looking vaguely displeased. Kratos began the evaluation, "Miss Nikos, it is clear that you consider yourself to be extremely strong, but that overconfidence can easily be turned against you. You did not analyze your opponent, wait for an opening, or start with safer long ranged attacks. Instead you charged an enemy of unknown abilities and paid the price. You won by the rules laid out for the duel, but in a real battle you would clearly be the loser." A small gesture revealed that she hadn't even taken a full percent off of the boy's life. "As for you, Lloyd, you need to pay more attention to your position."

Glynda stepped in. "Your hesitation to finish your opponent ultimately cost you the battle. Your offence relied too heavily on your opponent being unable to respond. You left yourself too open to counter-attack. As for Miss Nikos, you must remember what options are available to you. Don't let yourself be blinded by how you think a battle will go and lose sight of the best way to fight an opponent. Both of you, return to your seats."

Whispers raged as the two teens made their way back to their friends. By Pyrrha's reckoning it was one third about how close she came to defeat, one third how impressive it was that she still won, and one third speculation on how the swordsman had almost beaten her. The third topic stung the most. _"They can't accept that someone is just better than the invincible girl. I can't even lose like a normal person. It has to be to some tricky semblance or a god or an angel of wrath."_

Jaune, as she had come to expect, was there to be a lovable breath of fresh air. "Great fight Pyrrha! You were on the ropes, but you really pulled out a win!"

But Weiss had to ruin the moment. "As expected of the Record-holding Mistrali Champion. Your skill and-"

Glynda cut off the heiress's pandering. "Next is Cardin Winchester vs Genis Sage."

The two combatants stood across from each other and the difference couldn't be more clear. A child, the youngest and shortest in the class by a fair margin, versus the tallest and most muscled of the year.

"Hey there pipsqueak, you wander off from daycare? Nah, a knife eared faunus animal like you wouldn't go to daycare, your mom probably just abandoned you."

Genis responded with two short sentences spoken with intimidating calm. "Want a charge? THUNDER BLADE!"

The poor muscle head had no idea what hit him. One second he was mocking the half-pint the he decided was some kind of faunus, the next he was convulsing on the floor as lightning coursed through his body.

It didn't take long for everyone to learn that Team ABSS was not to be taken lightly…

-Lunchtime-

"And the winner of the most humiliating defeat today goes to… Ice Queen!" The teams RNBL, JYSN, and most of ABSS had all squeezed themselves together on the same table, and Yang was taking the opportunity to give her takes on the fights. "Sure, your fight lasted all the way to the seven second mark, but I think that blowing yourself up with your own weapon makes you more than worthy of this award. Can you give your thoughts on the situation?"

Yang shoved her imaginary microphone into the heiress's face. Weiss was less than pleased. "The only reason the dust exploded is because that insufferable Klutz disturbed it."

Collette hung her head. "I'm sorry for messing up your sword when I tripped on you."

Yang had to smother her smile at the similarities with her own sister. "You don't need to apologize, you were supposed to do anything you could to mess with your opponent. Weiss Cream is just mad that Vomit Boy did better than her."

The boy in question was quick to reign in their expectations. "Zelos was just going easy on me. I'm sure he could have beaten me faster than any of you if he really wanted."

Pyrrha was quick to complement him. "You took him down to ninety percent and lasted two minutes. That's far better than anything we accomplished."

Yang cut back in, "And don't forget who you're talking to; I was smashed in one under two seconds. Looking back, I probably shouldn't have charged straight at her, that little girl is crazy strong. But just you wait, I'll beat her the next time!"

Presea spoke up in what was supposed to be a flat comforting tone. "Unless you drastically change your fighting style, the results of any duels between us are unlikely to change."

Yang responded with a good natured laugh. "It's good to have people stronger than you around; part of why I jumped to partner with the big I.G."

Nobody noticed Pyrrha's smile fade before she forced the conversation in a different direction. "We haven't had much time to get to know each other so far; why don't you tell us where you're from?"

The Symphonia crew looked at each other. Eventually Genis answered for them. "Sylverant and Tethe'alla. They're settlements outside of the kingdoms so you probably never heard of them."

Blake looked up from her book at that. "It must have been difficult. Small settlements like that can be whipped out by the grimm in an instant. That must be why you're so strong."

Lloyd responded with an easy earnestness. "Grimm aren't a problem out there. Mostly it's just fighting monsters, and they tend to stay away from villages. Though looking back, I guess those monsters would pretty much be like plants or animals with their aura unlocked."

Silence followed that declaration. Weiss held a hand over her open mouth at the terror a pack of hunter level animals could cause. Blake was wondering if that statement could be considered slightly racist. Jaune was pretending to be shocked, since he had only the vaguest idea of what that all meant. Ruby was imagining an army of Zwei's wiping out the Grimm with adorable headbuts. The red-haired Reaper finally broke the silence. "Wow… That would certainly get rid of the grimm…"

Yang looked at the expression on her sister's face and pre-empted the coming question. "No Ruby, we can't go there and get another pet just because Zwei isn't here."

"Fudgebaskets…"

 **Chapter 3 End**.

Scaling is haaaarrrrdddd. Trying to calculate feats requires so many assumptions that oftentimes don't seem to be true. RWBY doesn't really even try to pretend that it follows Earth physics, so you need to get more general.

Eventually I came up with this chain of logic: Aura unlocked animals are superior to grimm of equal class (Zwei kills beowolf), Monsters in Symphonia would certainly seem to be animals with unlocked aura (They can take large amounts of damage and can damage a person through full plate armor), the grimm dragon was considered too much for hunters to kill, while Lloyd and co. kill a real dragon about halfway through their journey and only kept growing. It's quick and dirty, but this isn't Death Battle. If it was, I'd say that Symphonia is obviously better because the summon spirits are basic forces of the world (e.g. Gnome supplies gravity), and the manga implies that they can all dodge lasers, so everyone in Symphonia is at relativistic speeds. Silly? Yes, but the point was to show that trying to "logically" power scale fictional universes doesn't really work.

Some plot progress, some shipping progress, and hopefully a fun time had by all. Hope you enjoyed reading, have a nice day.


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